Continuation of experiences with Prezi and Pearltrees

Was invited by a colleague to view her Pearltree.  Just couldn't find it!  Tried to look for it again on another day and Pearltrees wouldn't even let me log in to my own account!  Afraid at this point I felt I'd wasted enough time and admitted temporary defeat.  Never total defeat.  Think this Web 2.0 technology is fantastic overall.  Worth the occasional set back.

On a much happier note I am collaborating with two colleagues to produce a Prezi.  It is just a fun one to experiment with the technology.   It's a story called "A tale through the woods".

Dropbox - File Sharing and Collaboration

Dropbox is a file hosting service operated by Dropbox, Inc., that offers cloud storage, file synchronization, and client software. Dropbox allows users to create a special folder on each of their computers, which Dropbox then synchronizes so that it appears to be the same folder (with the same contents) regardless of which computer is used to view it. Files placed in this folder also are accessible through a website and mobile phone applications.

It is available for free, or you can pay to upgrade to the "Pro" or "Business" versions.

Liszen - a search engine for library blogs

Liszen is a search engine specifically for library blogs.

I did a search of the academic library blogs indexed by Liszen using "web 2.0".  The top 3 sites were:

www.librarian.net

http:libraryjuicepress.com/blog

creakysites.wordpress.com

The blogs themselves did not seem to have been updated recently.  The latest posts on two of the blogs was 2007 and the other was 2009.  A reflection of the fact that many blogs get abandoned when initial enthusiasm wanes.

Creating a Google Custom Search Engine

Have just added a Google Custom Search Engine to this blog.

Did start out by going directly to the Google CSE site, putting in my blog address to create an engine, then copying the code.  When I came to pasting the code into my blog I realised this was unnecessary as Blogger is a Google "animal" too.  Can be done very simply by using the add a gadget option on the blog via Design ----> Layout.

Guess the code would be needed if I was using a different blogging host. 
Below is the code I could use:

<script>
  (function() {
    var cx = '016051726456348803986:gwaupwseopc';
    var gcse = document.createElement('script');
    gcse.type = 'text/javascript';
    gcse.async = true;
    gcse.src = (document.location.protocol == 'https:' ? 'https:' : 'http:') +
        '//www.google.com/cse/cse.js?cx=' + cx;
    var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];
    s.parentNode.insertBefore(gcse, s);
  })();
</script>
<gcse:search></gcse:search>

Am wondering if this code would be useful if attempting to integrate an engine into Moodle.

Reflective practice - just going round in circles?

This blog involves a lot of reflective writing.  So what is it, and why bother?

It is based on Kolb's 1986 model of experiential learning. 
 
Margaret Watson explains it in her book "Building your portfolio: the CILIP guide" like this:

"You do something.
You think about it.
You draw conclusions from the experience.
You plan how you can do it better.
You do it better".

It's an iterative process: you go round this as in a circle - repeatedly - to get the best results.

I first came across reflective learning when studying Open University courses.  The OU are very fond of reflective writing!  At first writing down my thoughts about something I'd learnt seemed an alien, unnatural process.  However, I came to enjoy doing it, and it works for me.

CILIP - a professional network - its special interest and regional groups

CILIP is the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals.

It has a number of special interest groups, including the Academic and Research Libraries Group.

There are also regional groups, including one for the Southern area of the UK.  Through their section of CILIP's website I discovered that there is a local training day for Library Assistants on 16 July 2013 which looks very relevant to my work. 

Reviews of previous events such as the 2013 ARLG Southern AGM and CPD day "We need to talk about ARLG" held on 1st May gave valuable information.  For example, there was a link to the powerpoint presentation given by the President of CILIP, Phil Bradley, entitled "Google, search engines and social media".  There was also a reference to a website - www.eduapps.org - where useful software collections that can be used to support teaching and learning are available to download.

Common Craft videos on YouTube

Have found lots of useful Common Craft videos on YouTube, such as Internet Safety.  These short videos are aimed mainly at teachers and trainers, but are probably helpful to anyone wanting the learn about any subject or gain a new skill.  This search lead me on to finding a link to videos on the BloggerHelp Channel which I can explore if I need extra help with this blog.

Starting to use a presentation tool - Prezi

Today I received the following email which reminds me that I need to explore the presentation tool - Prezi.   I can watch the video to learn more.  As the email states, it's possible to collaborate with colleagues on the same prezi which could be really useful. LRC, now you can work with your team in the same prezi. New Collaboration Features Create and edit in real time together in the same prezi. See each others' edits instantly. Easily present online with anyone just by sharing a link. Watch a video and try it out

Exploring a library wiki

The Library and Information Science Wiki was launched in 2005.  It encourages everyone to contribute - by editing existing or creating new articles.  There are articles on vanity publishing and government documents, for example.  Areas where development is particularly welcome include weblogs and RFID.  The site does have a strong American slant.  I guess as with all information sources, but particularly wikis (given that anyone can author the work), factors such as the accuracy, scope, completeness and how up-to-date articles are need to be borne in mind.

Zotero - a research library

Zotero describes itself as "a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share your research sources."  

Zotero collects all your research in a single, searchable interface. You can add PDFs, images, audio and video files, snapshots of web pages etc.

Imagine this is most useful for researchers and academics, whether working alone or collaborating with others.

The future - continuing to learn

The Staff Training section on my 'parent' blog - BPC Library 2.0 - gives ideas for how to continue to learn about new technology.
 
Moocs (Massive Open Online Courses) seem to be a way forward.
Was particularly interested to hear about Futurelearn - a UK-based company launched by the Open University which offers Moocs.

Gaming technologies

On Wednesday 5th June I was on leave and therefore able to attend an event at Bournemouth University called "Games can be fun for everybody".  It showcased work within Bournemouth University Dementia Institute and the School of Design, Engineering and Computing, which offers a degree in Games Technology. 

There was an opportunity to 'have a go' and see how games can promote social activity and mental engagement, and enhance wellbeing and life satisfaction.  Older people (in particular those with memory problems) can really benefit from the technology.

Exploring SlideShare

SlideShare describes itself as "the world's largest community for sharing presentations. With 60 million monthly visitors and 130 million pageviews, it is amongst the most visited 200 websites in the world. Besides presentations, SlideShare also supports documents, PDFs, videos and webinars".  Enter the world of social media is one presentation I found on the site.

Another widget - select a language

It is possible to add widgets to this blog via the layout section.  Widgets are the visual representations of plug-ins.  They are small bits of software that add some extra functionality to a blog.

The bookshelf from LibraryThing is an example of a widget I added earlier. 

I've just introduced a new gadget - select a language - which will allow the reader to translate this blog into anything from Arabic to Yiddish.

Designing our Future and podcasting

At 7pm on Monday 3rd June I went to a talk at Bournemouth University entitled "Designing our Future".  It was given by a lecturer in engineering, Mehran Koohgilani, who has a passion for the environment. 


He feels that currently designers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers and consumers are all colluding with a culture that involves planned obsolesence of items such as computers and smart phones.  We are "designing for the dump".  Fashion and the latest technology at the lowest price outweighs health and safety factors and preserving Mother Earth for future generations.



During this talk, he mentioned a podcast by a green-minded architect William McDonough which is available via the website TED.  TED describes itself as a nonprofit community devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design.

Social media for the terrified

On Monday 3rd June I was on leave so I could go along to an interactive workshop "Social media for the terrified."   It was being run as part of Bournemouth University's Festival of Learning by their School of Tourism.

 

 

An overview of the current popular social media landscape was given - Twitter, Skype, LinkedIn etc.

 

What was also suggested was that this landscape will probably look totally different in

5 years time, given the pace of change with social networking!  Ways of accessing it may well have moved on too.  For example, will many people have Google glasses?